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Helping Entrepreneurs: Getting the Most out of Government Information

1.
Helping Entrepreneurs: Getting the
Most out of Government Information
October 6, 2017, 11:15am
Patricia Kenly, Georgia Institute of Technology
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BUSINESS PLANS
• An entrepreneur will use this to get a bank or angel investor to get a loan or
to get funding for his/her company
• Key parts – financials (current; expected) ; marketing analysis; competitors ;
locations (and why), startup costs, and more
Note: the series Business Plans Handbook (37 vols. , more added each yr.),
from Gale, has actual business plans
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Finding brief demographic info.
• QuickFacts – from the Census Bureau. Available for :
zip codes; cities; counties; states
• My Congressional District – also from the Census Bureau
Commercial sources of (some) free info., by zip code:
ESRI
Claritas – “My Best Segments”
Note: these two databases have much more that is available –
for a fee –
and, some library databases incorporate these as add-on modules
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16.
Census Bureau
The Bureau does much more than the Decennial Census !
It conducts more than 100 surveys and censuses each year.
• Much data is on American FactFinder database –
https://factfinder.census.gov/
• American Community Survey
• American Housing Survey – biennial; sponsored by HUD
• Economic Census – every 5 years
• Business Patterns -- annual (aka “County Business Patterns”)
• Annual Survey of Manufactures
• Nonemployer Statistics [i.e., a sole proprietor]
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American Community Survey
(ACS) – from Census Bureau
• On-going
• Focuses on social, economic, housing, and demographic
characteristics
• Largest household survey in the U.S. (annual size of approx. 3
million)
• Conducted by mail, telephone, and personal visits -- random
sample
• “tells us what the population looks like & how it lives”
• Tip: search with “Subject Tables”, at:
https://www.census.gov/acs/www/data-tables-and-tools/subject-tables/
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American Community Survey – cont’d.
1-year estimates for areas with 65,000 or more population
* 3-year estimates for areas with 20,000 or more population
* recently discontinued -- new product is:
“1-year supplemental estimates” … for areas with 20,00 or more
5-year estimates for all areas
Data tip: do NOT combine/mix these separate datasets
More on how/when to use:
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about/information-guide.html
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26.
Why is Census Geography
Important?
• Census Bureau quote: [the Bureau] “doesn’t have a
mandate to do ZIP Code mapping so we don’t claim
that any ZIP product we have is definitive or complete”
• ZIP Codes are designed to be linear postal delivery
routes
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ZIP Code; Census Tract
• Example:
The Buckhead branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Public
Library system recently moved – ONE block over. This
is in a different ZIP code area; but the SAME Census
Tract.
In this case, the Census Tract statistics are
representative of the area around the library.
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ZCTA® (ZIP Code Tabulation Areas)
• Developed by the Census Bureau…“generalized area
representations of the ZIP Code service areas”
• In most instances the ZCTA code is the same as the ZIP
Code ® for an area.
• The Census Bureau took the most frequently occurring ZIP
Code in an area for the ZCTA code. Some addresses will
end up with a ZCTA code different from their ZIP Code.
• Not stable over time
• Frequently cross county and place boundaries
• More info. at: https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/zctas.html
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Census Tracts
• Optimum size: 4,000 people in each tract ; 74,000 in U.S. and
Puerto Rico
– “small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a
county”, with similar demographic characteristics
– determined by local committees
– normally follow visible features (natural boundaries)
– data collected every 5 years with the American Community
Survey
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34.
Confidentiality and the Census
• In order to protect privacy, the Census Bureau uses
“data swapping”
• Sample of households is selected and matched on a set
of key variables with households in other areas that
have similar characteristics (such as the same # adults ;
same # children)
• Often occurs within a neighboring area
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Radius data – effective tool
• No need to be concerned with political boundaries
(county lines, state lines)
• Can create your own custom area
• Often used in business plans
• Flexible choices – 1, 3, 10 miles, etc.
• What do you need to get started?
– latitude and longitude of a specific point
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44.
BEA – Who uses this information?
GDP, national data –
• White House and Congress to prepare budget estimates and projections.
• Federal Reserve to set monetary policy.
• Wall Street to provide primary indicators of national economic activity.
• Business community to plan financial and investment strategies.
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Advantages of commercial databases
• Augment the Census Bureau info. from the Economic Census with
online company directory databases (many public library systems and
university libraries subscribe).
• Search more than one industry code at a time, and some can point
you to indirect competitors (i.e., if your user wanted to open a “snack
bar”, a supermarket sells snacks too…)
• Do a radius search for direct and indirect competitors
• And, a radius is ideal if there are boundaries (county line, Census Tract)
• Demographics databases such as SimplyAnalytics allow much
quicker/easier acess to this data…value-added
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PATENTS & TRADEMARKS
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) – https://www.uspto.gov/
• USPTO has designated Patent & Trademark Resource Centers
(PTRCs) throughout the U.S. –
they offer free reference assistance to anyone, often conduct
classes and host workshops, and provide access to USPTO
databases and sources
• Special website focused for Inventors and Entrepreneurs, at:
https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/inventors-
entrepreneurs-resources
• Georgia Tech Library is the only PTRC in Georgia
(note: libraries at Auburn and Clemson are also PTRCs) 57